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Talk:The Little Spy Maid/@comment-3041875-20161211225657
Excellent episode, and probably strongest in a while. The Good – I liked Val subtly telling Rena and Liz that she'd be taking a close-eye on everything at the house, every detail. And I can totally see Rena having an advent calendar and being offended when Val eats a chocolate from it and calls him a child. Great scene, and characterisation of the two employees. I also enjoyed Justine's appearance, and appreciate the connection of it being Val to have taught her bad English, especially the Spanish line (which was a great call-back). It was an interesting development with Rena going to work for Joanna, and I continued to enjoy his characterisation in that scene, with the butler lazing around the house. I liked them still having an arrangement at Joanna's house, and enjoyed him drinking with his new employer. As always, I loved the butlers together, with Josh and Joe being so concerned about Rena taking a job at Joanna's, while Ben remained ignorant. The interactions and characterisation in this scene remained strong, including Josh's quip at Rena (I like Josh having witty lines, although it's only sometimes apparent with his character). It was good having Josh be fearful of Joanna and wonder what other horrible things she may have done. Meanwhile, Selena remained amusing (some highlights were: her not being the one to cause a scene for once, her comments to Rena about slaves having a ship, constant white male insults and the salacious phallus fest of cocktail wieners). I enjoyed Silvia inserting herself into the group via Selena, and Josh going nuts at Joanna was a good scene. "Some privileges are worth having," Selena declares, revealing how hypocritical she is, which of course is great, because it is how ridiculous and fake she is which is what's so good about her. I loved how it led to Josh noticing that Silvia has been stalking Joe. Also, Juanita Kwon's appearance in this story as rohypnol watch was great; "You rape any?". All the stuff involving Silvia was excellent, and I think the pacing of her story has been good all season. It was good having Silvia make Joe think about his past, as well as how she did it. Him getting a favour from friends at the station to do his research made sense and then I enjoyed him confronting Meghan. Her reasons for lying to him made sense and I particularly enjoyed the bit about how he doesn’t need to solve everything, but how he still feels the need to, because it's just in his bones. Very interested by the fact that Rochelle knew his mother, and I really enjoyed her talking about her to Joe, without knowing she was his mother. Everything concerning Rochelle, was as amusing as ever, like how Manny helped her out the tub; she's consistently funny. The ending to the story was excellent, while I continue to really enjoy the visions of Joanna, and I loved how Joe pictured her while with Aliza, and then his discovery at the end. Very interested by the Little's story, as well as Joe's past, and how they might even collide. Ben and Ali's friendship was easily the strongest part of Ben's story this episode. Their interaction last season was really great, and I enjoyed Ben reminding Ali of the ultrasound, who's been distracted, them both making lunch plans and I really liked them together in the scene of Ali having her ultrasound. Like I said in my last review, Jennifer's story has a bit more credibility to it because it was established last season how desperate she is to be married. I liked Ben bringing up their daughter to Jennifer, and I'm glad it wasn’t as simple as that to convince her not to marry Andrew. Clearly, it's a mix of Stockholm syndrome and Jennifer's already fragile state of mind, that we saw last season when she so desperately wanted a marriage with Ben, delusionally thinking she could be happy, which is why her misguided feelings for Andrew have occurred so quickly and severely. Joanna's drunk appearance at the wedding was funny, and having James rescue Ben and Ali from her. The Bad - Ben and Ali did talk to Jennifer together last episode, so the idea that talking to her together might work was pretty weird. Also hard to believe James would have been convinced by Ali, since she gave no reason as to why she was important, but just shouted. While I appreciated the connection given in the teaser, I wonder if Justine's bad English really had to be explained. Does it really make sense that Val could confuse Justine's English so, when she then speaks perfectly good English in the next line, along with everyone else? Surely Justine sees the difference; Val's talking to everyone else perfectly right after incorrectly correcting Justine. Small point, but I don’t see why Josh would be angry at Rena over taking the job at Joanna's, since his friend needs a job and he gave Rena no reason to do as he said. I'm assuming Josh was just frustrated, and not actually angry at Rena. Observations (or Questions?) - How old is Aliza? Not as young as I thought, obviously (and hopefully). Does Brad call Ben by his first name, while addressing Ali as Ms. Del Barrio, cause he's friendly with Ben via Josh, or because Ben is merely a butler? If it’s the latter, Brad's a bit of a dick. I actually thought Ben was going to offer to take the second ultrasound picture, but then I realised that'd have been really weird. Liz was so rude to Val, that I hoped Val would reveal how Eli only hired her as a spy, and not really as a maid. Then, Liz would have no one to do the cleaning-up, and have to do it herself. Speaking about Val, does she want more than to just be Eli's spy? Does she suspect anything over Justine's death? Will she learn more? Will she want revenge? Excited over where this story could go. Best Butler – Joe. His stories involving Silvia, the Little's and Joanna were all excellent. I'm really intrigued by both mysteries, especially Joe's past. Josh and Rena's interactions with Selena, Joanna, Liz and/or Val were all also really good, and their characterisation was strong and apparent throughout. All three of them were entertaining from beginning till end, but Joe was the star. Ben, sadly remains, the weakest in my eyes, mainly because I'm just not that interested in Jennifer and Andrew's marriage story, but his relationship with Ali remains very interesting and enjoyable to read, so it was, again, a stronger episode for Ben than earlier in the season. I also appreciated him bringing up his daughter, and how that made me feel for his character. Overview – Excellent episode, and I think the best in a while. The stories were all more captivating than they've been since the season's premiere, and the attention given to the mystery was particularly strong. All of the butlers had strong interactions and stories going on that showed-off their characters well, but again, the other three more so than Ben.